False Claims Act: ResMed Corp Has Agreed To Pay To Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Violations

<h2>ResMed Corp&period; to Pay &dollar;37&period;5 Million for Allegedly Causing False Claims Related to the Sale of Equipment for Sleep Apnea and other Disorders<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>SAN DIEGO – ResMed Corp&period;&comma; a manufacturer of durable medical equipment &lpar;DME&rpar; based in San Diego&comma; California&comma; has agreed to pay more than &dollar;37&period;5 million to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations for paying kickbacks to DME suppliers&comma; sleep labs and other health care providers&comma; the Department of Justice announced today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Paying any type of illegal remuneration to induce patient referrals undermines the integrity of our nation’s health care system&comma;” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When a patient receives a prescription for a device to treat a health care condition&comma; the patient deserves to know that the device was selected based on quality of care considerations and not on unlawful payments from equipment manufacturers&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits the knowing and willful payment of any remuneration to induce the referral of services or items that are paid for by a federal healthcare program&comma; such as Medicare&comma; Medicaid or TRICARE&period; Claims submitted to these programs in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute give rise to liability under the False Claims Act&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The settlement resolves allegations that ResMed &lpar;a&rpar; provided DME companies with free telephone call center services and other free patient outreach services that enabled these companies to order resupplies for their patients with sleep apnea&comma; &lpar;b&rpar; provided sleep labs with free and below-cost positive airway pressure masks and diagnostic machines&comma; as well as free installation of these machines&comma; &lpar;c&rpar; arranged for&comma; and fully guaranteed the payments due on&comma; interest-free loans that DME supplies acquired from third-party <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"947">financial<&sol;a> institutions for the purchase of ResMed equipment&comma; and &lpar;d&rpar; provided non-sleep specialist physicians free home sleep testing devices referred to as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;ApneaLink&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Medical decisions should always be made without outside influence caused by cash payments&comma; free goods&comma; or other types of illegal remuneration&comma; and we will continue to take action to prevent attempts to induce medical decisions through illegal kickbacks&comma;” declared Katherine L&period; Parker&comma; Civil Chief&comma; United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We applaud the whistleblower for coming forward and notifying the United States&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This settlement represents another example of our district’s commitment to prosecuting violations of the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute&comma;” said Lance Crick&comma; Acting U&period; S&period; Attorney for the District of South Carolina&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Medical decisions should be based on what is in the best interest of the patient and not based on financial incentives and related schemes&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Illegal kickbacks in the federal healthcare system create an unfair marketplace and the potential that medical decisions are not based on what is best for patients&comma;” said U&period;S&period; Attorney Peter E&period; Deegan&comma; Jr&period;&comma; for the Northern District of Iowa&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This settlement is another sign of our office’s dedication to fair and full enforcement of the False Claims Act&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When companies give free equipment to doctors for the sole purpose of generating business and increasing their bottom lines&comma; federal health insurance programs should not foot the bills&period; This case rights that alleged wrong by ResMed&comma;” stated United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Richard P&period; Donoghue&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable companies that put profits before patients&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Contemporaneous with the civil settlement&comma; ResMed entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement &lpar;CIA&rpar; with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General&period; The CIA requires&comma; among other things&comma; that ResMed implement additional controls around its product pricing and sales and that ResMed conduct internal and external monitoring of its arrangements with referral sources&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The agreement resolves five lawsuits originally brought by whistleblowers under the qui tam&comma; or whistleblower&comma; provisions of the False Claims&period; The False Claims Act permits private citizens with knowledge of fraud against the government to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the United States and to share in the recovery&period; The whistleblowers will collectively receive a roughly &dollar;6&period;2 million share of the settlement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The government contended ResMed provided free goods and services to companies in order to sell more medical equipment bought by taxpayers&comma;” said Derrick L&period; Jackson&comma; Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U&period;S&period; Department of Health and Human Services&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The OIG’s integrity agreement with ResMed is designed to ensure such alleged behavior will not be repeated&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I applaud the Department of Justice and the U&period;S&period; Attorneys&&num;8217&semi; for their continued efforts to hold health care providers accountable to the American taxpayer&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Army Lt&period; Gen&period; Ron Place&comma; director of the Defense Health Agency&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The efforts of the Department of Justice safeguard the health care benefit for our service members&comma; veterans and their families&period; The Defense Health Agency continues to work closely with the Justice Department&comma; and other state and federal agencies to investigate all those who participated in fraudulent practices&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This settlement was the result of a coordinated effort by the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice&semi; the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Offices for the District of South Carolina&comma; the Southern District of California&comma; the Northern District of Iowa&comma; and the Eastern District of New York&semi; the Department of Health and Human Services&comma; Office of Counsel to the Inspector General and Office of Investigations&semi; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service&semi; the Defense Health Agency Office of General Counsel&semi; the Federal Bureau of Investigation&semi; and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The lawsuits resolved by this settlement are captioned United States&comma; et al&period;&comma; ex rel&period; Ameer v&period; ResMed&comma; Inc&period;&comma; et al&period;&comma; Case No&period; 2&colon;15-CV-04842-MBS &lpar;D&period;S&period;C&period;&rpar;&semi; United States&comma; et al&period;&comma; ex rel&period; Baker v&period; ResMed&comma; Inc&period;&comma; et al&period;&comma; Case No&period; 3&colon;16-CV-00987-MBS &lpar;D&period;S&period;C&period;&rpar;&semi; United States&comma; et al&period;&comma; ex rel&period; Ross v&period; ResMed&comma; Inc&period;&comma; Case No&period; 16-CV-1988-W &lpar;JLB&rpar; &lpar;S&period;D&period; Cal&period;&rpar;&semi; United States ex rel&period; Meyer v&period; ResMed&comma; Inc&period;&comma; et al&period;&comma; Case No&period; 17-CV-12-MWB &lpar;N&period;D&period; Iowa&rpar;&semi; and United States&comma; et al&period;&comma; ex rel&period; Ottavio&comma; et al&period; v&period; ResMed&comma; Inc&period;&comma; Case No&period; CV 17-5734 &lpar;E&period;D&period;N&period;Y&period;&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only&comma; and there has been no determination of liability&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

False Claims Act